Monday Bits: Examining Rangers' bullpen

Welcome to the final few days of July. On Wednesday, the last day of the month, there likely will be trades that affect both real baseball and the fantasy version. Some of the players moved will be big names, some will be minor leaguers, and in some cases the statistics we rely so much on will be vastly affected. However, in general, it's the bad teams sending expensive big league talent of various performance levels packing, while the good teams move the unproven kids for that talent. Then there are the Texas Rangers.

A report surfaced over the weekend that the Rangers are at least considering trading closer Joe Nathan in an effort to acquire more offensive help. This makes sense: Nathan is right there among fantasy's top closers on the Player Rater with Craig Kimbrel and Edward Mujica, but he's 38 and would be the most accomplished relief trade chip on the market (and that includes overpaid Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon). Plus, the Rangers have fill-in options. Frankly, it's the rare occasion when real baseball mirrors fantasy; it's as if one team has extra saves to trade to fill other needs, and it makes sense now to act.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Eric Karabell

Eric Karabell is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He has worked at ESPN since 1997 and covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, specializing in baseball and football. Eric contributes to ESPN The Magazine and appears on a variety of digital platforms for ESPN.com. He has been honored twice as fantasy sports writer of the year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, his blog was named best fantasy baseball series for 2007 and he was inducted into the inaugural FSWA Hall of Fame class in 2011.

Eric grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and accordingly, favors all Philly teams first, his fantasy teams second. He previously served as ESPN.com's lead NBA editor, and is a former Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer. Eric is also the author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments," published by Source Books and available in bookstores and online.